Inquisition versus Miguel de Quintana

The official record of the Inquisition’s proceedings against Miguel de Quintana is presented below.

1732 March 17
Around 5 pm on the Monday that began the third week of Lent, Manuel de Sopeña reported he had been given nine sheets of paper "containing many reckless and scandalous assertions" by Quintana. His statement before the commissary of the Holy Office, José Antonio Guerrero, was notarized by José Irigoyen. Sopeña identified himself as the "minister of Nueva Villa de Santa Cruz."

1732 June 29
Quintana told Irigoyen he could not "comply with the obligation of annually going to confession and taking Communion," because "God did not ask the impossible of any of His children." He give the friar a paper justifying his refusal.

1732 July 1
Irigoyen denounced Quintana to the Holy Office, and notarized his own statement.

1732 July 12
Guerrero sent Quintana’s papers with the statements by Sopeña and Irigoyen to the Inquisition’s Holy Tribunal in Ciudad de México.

1734 May 22
The Inquisition in Mexico City reviewed Quintana’s case in its Secret Court. The men’s initial conclusion was "the case may well stem from feeblemindedness," but allowed the possibility that he was "ruled by some evil spirit." However, they said, they could not "form an opinion" because they knew nothing of this "life and habits, his abilities and talents." The Inquisitor, Diego Mangado y Cavijo, returned the paperwork to Guerrero "to reexamine and verify the statements of the two friars, according to standard directions." The Santa Fé commissary also was told to interview Quintana.

1734 May 27
Two inquisitors wrote a letter of instructions to Guerrero. In addition to the above, they told him to officially warn Quintana "drawing his attention to this court’s order that he should not inwardly believe or outwardly express such heretical assertions and that failure to comply will lead to prosecution to the fullest extent of the law." They further instructed him to have Quintana "sign a promise of obedience."

1734 November 4
Manuel de Sopeña was recalled from Picurís, but was no longer sure how many sheets of writing had been given to him by Quintana. When asked, he said the man "has his lucid intervals, but he is not completely convinced he is in his right mind, as witnessed by an occasion when he is said to have thrown stones. He does not recall who told him that, but people say that it must be fifteen years ago when this happened."

Sopeña also noted Quintana sometimes had trouble speaking when he was helping him with mass, "rarely goes to mass, giving as an excuse pain in the spleen," and did not participate in the Third Order of Saint Francis, the one open the laymen. He was told his testimony was to be kept secret. Irigoyen was the witness.

1734 November 5
Irigoyen, who was now described as a retired preacher, was recalled. Witnesses to the secret proceedings were the Franciscan’s vice custos and Francisco Manuel Bravo Lerchundi, the missionary to Pecos. The notary was José de Eguía.

The friar remembered it was around 9 in the morning on July 1 of 1732 that he had submitted his signed denunciation. He adds he told Quintana to confess on June 19 around 11 in the morning. He admitted he did not "know whether Quintana regularly takes the most holy sacraments or does virtuous actions," but does not attribute his actions "to madness or simplemindedness." He found not "a single thing to add, change or modify" in his first statement.

1734 November 8
Quintana was interrogated by Joseph Antonio Guerrero in secret in Santa Fé, with Irigoyen as the witness. Quintana explained why he thought God put "these thoughts in his mind."

1734 November 10
Guerrero sent a report to Inquisition in Ciudad de México that said he had questioned Sopeña, Irigoyen, and Quintana as instructed. He added that, since there was no sign Quintana was not mentally deficient in anyway, "I did not bring to his attention the extreme seriousness of the matter, nor did I officially warn him of the consequences as instructed."

1735 March 15
Authorities in Mexico City reviewed the documents sent by Guerrero. They noted he didn’t warn Quintana as instructed.

1735 March 24
Diego Mangado y Clavijo decided Quintana was suffering "from some delusion or damage to the imagination." He ordered Guerrero to make Quintana "appear before him and a notary, place him under oath, and warm him along the safe and easy path, which is in keeping of the commandments of God and His Holy Church, threatening him that if he should slip back into his ravings, the Holy Office will treat him with all severity." He also told Guerrero to give him a "learned and prudent confessor to him to hear his confessions."

1736 March 11
Guerrero sent more papers to Mexico City that said "Quintana was sick in bed, as he is now, and to judge by his condition, near death."

1736 July 24
Inquisitors in Ciudad de México acknowledged receipt of Guerrero’s report. They ordered him again to confront Quintana in the presence of a notary and tell him "not to publicize or tell anyone at all about these ravings he calls revelations or inspirations." He was to warn him, if he continued, he "would be treated with all the severity of the law and subject to the punishments applied to the obstinate, a fraud, and a rebel."

1737 January 22
Irigoyen went to Quintana’s house to order him to appear in Santa Fé, but found he was too sick to obey.

1737 January 23
Guerrero went to Quintana’s house at "about nine o’clock in the morning" to tell him "he should have nothing more to do with ridiculous revelations and publicizing them under the penalty of being punished as someone obstinate, a fraud, and a rebel." Quintana agreed. Guerrero assigned Irigoyen as his confessor.

Notes: Francisco A. Lomelí and Clark A. Colahan. Defying the Inquisition in Colonial New Mexico, 2006; contains Spanish and English versions of all documents described here.